Republicans can't abide the fact that Obama got bin Laden, and they didn't

In response to a recent letter-writer claiming that the Navy SEALs, rather than President Obama, deserve the credit for killing Osama bin Laden, there are few sadder things than watching Republicans try to play down the facts ("SEALs, not Obama, deserve credit for bin Laden death," May 9).

Here are the facts: President Obama is commander-in-chief whether his opponents like it or not. He was the one — and the only one — responsible for ordering those SEALs into action. They did not make that decision on their own. He was the one in charge.

I guess what really steams Republicans is that when their guys were in charge, they let Osama bin Laden slip into Pakistan right under their noses.

And it was the same former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who called Mr. Obama's decision a "no brainer" who backed down from the tough decision to go into Pakistan after bin Laden when he had the chance.

Are the Republicans just envious or are they cowards? Either way, the fact is that Obama succeeded where they failed, and that is eating them up inside.

William Smith, Baltimore